Better Skin Soothers

Dry, itchy skin rashes are often caused by inherited abnormalities in the function of the skin's protective barrier, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Vienna have found. Recognizing that histamine, a product of certain skin cells, impairs the skin barrier, the scientists made experimental lotions containing different types of antihistamine drugs. When rubbed on mice with various kinds of rashes, they caused "potent anti-inflammatory effects and big improvements in barrier function," says Peter M. Elias, a professor of dermatology at UCSF. Oral anti-itch drugs called H2 blockers, which don't cause drowsiness like some other antihistamines do, seem especially promising to formulate into a topical treatment for people with eczema, psoriasis, or atopic dermatitis, Elias says.